U.K. post-punk legends Wire today announced the release of their fourth post-reunion album and 13th overall, a 13-track collection called ‘Change Becomes Us’ that is due out next March and “began as an exploration of unrecorded material originally written in 1979-80,” according to an e-mail the band sent to fans.

Wire next week will give wide release to last year’s tour-only live album ‘The Black Session – Paris 10 May 2011,’ a 13-track live set recorded last May at Radio France’s Paris studios in front of an audience as part of Bernard Lenoir’s series of live broadcasts. Stream the whole thing here.

As 2011 quickly winds to an end, we’re happy to roll out our fourth and final days’ worth of results from our second-annual Slicing Up Eyeballs Readers Poll, in which nearly 500 of you cast ballots for your favorite music of the year. Today, we bring you the big one: The best albums of 2011.

Classic U.K. post-punk outfit Wire will commemorate its year-long tour in support of the band’s current record, ‘Red Barked Tree,’ by giving its recent tour-only live album — the 13-track ‘The Black Session – Paris 10 May 2011′ — a full worldwide release in February.

Wire will wrap up a year of touring in support of their new album ‘Red Barked Tree’ with a 15-date fall run through their native U.K. and Ireland — ‘covering several cities the band hasn’t played since the ’70s’ — as well as by releasing a new live album recorded earlier this year.

Back in April as Wire toured the U.S. in support of its new album ‘Red Barked Tree,’ the U.K. post-punk legends dropped by the studios of Seattle radio station KEXP to perform ‘Clay,’ ‘Bad Worn Thing’ and ‘Moreover’ from the new album, plus 1988 favorite ‘Kidney Bingos.’

Mid-way through a short North American tour in support of the just-released Red Barked Tree, U.K. post-punk legends Wire dropped by ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’ last night for their first American television performance in a quarter century.

This week’s new releases include ‘Red Barked Tree,’ the new album from Wire; vinyl reissues of best-of sets from the Pixies, Love and Rockets and The Cult; the post-Husker Du debut from Grant Hart’s Nova Mob; and the CD edition of ‘Hand in Glove: The Smiths Tribute’

Wire will embark on a short nine-date North American tour this April in support of their 12th studio album — the 11-track ‘Red Barked Tree’ — which is due out on Tuesday, although you can now stream the record in its entirety on NPR’s website.

Pared-down U.K. postpunk act Wire today announced it will self-release its 12th studio album — and third post-reunion effort — on Jan. 11, an 11-track collection called ‘Red Barked Tree’ that is preceded by a free MP3 download of the song ‘Two Minutes.’